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Topic: Show your Bird Portraits (Read 5391740 times)

I am sitting in a hunting blind and taking pictures of chickadees.... While I wait, I am browsing through this forum.....WOW are there ever a lot of fantastic pictures here! This is so inspirational! Thank you everyone for sharing with us your handiwork!

I am sitting in a hunting blind and taking pictures of chickadees.... While I wait, I am browsing through this forum.....WOW are there ever a lot of fantastic pictures here! This is so inspirational! Thank you everyone for sharing with us your handiwork!

And the credit for this picture should go to Jrista.... I got it from following his advice. THANKS!

Hi folks, my images from Friday were not that good, no idea what’s the matter but they were all slightly out of focus, like a heat haze, I couldn’t really see the LCD as the sun was very bright and I forgot sunglasses so I never noticed until I got home, the lake (big pond) was incredible right enough! Right in the middle of a housing development but shut off as the powers that be like to do in Dubai, there were Ospreys, Eagles, Marsh Harriers as well as a plethora of wading birds, like Herons, Egrets etc. I’m quite disappointed that my images were all bad, I’ll need to figure out what the problem is…..or if it’s simply user error!!Would a dirty sensor cause images to be out of focus?? Also what’s the best metering setting to be on when tracing flying birds? My settings were evaluative metering, Landscape WB, Al Servo/continuous and full manual.Thanks in advance!

Very nice shot Vern. Do you have any personal thoughts on what you gained and what you might have lost in using the fill flash in this case? Was it backlit? The chickadee is very nicely exposed and looks impressive. I've never used a flash for wildlife.

Very nice Vern. Well balanced with the fill flash.I've started to use fill flash for some of my bird pic's. Works well if I underexpose the flash by 1/3 to half a stop. When done well, you can't tell that flash has been used.

I always use a little fill flash for birds in trees b/c they are often backlit - though in this case that was minimal. I use the ETTL setting and high shutter speed synch on the canon 600 and set a fill of from -1 & 1/3 to -2 & 1/3 stops on the camera body. A better beamer tele adapter is helpful to extend the range and it covers most supertele angles of view. Even when not backlit, the flash adds a catchlight to the eye and increases color and detail in plumage.

The downside of the fill is that it will sometimes cast a shadow that detracts from the photo and if there are any foreground branches or leaves, they can stand out too much. Thanks for the positive feedback and questions - happy birding!

canon rumors FORUM

I wish I could say I photographed this Gray Hawk in the wild. However, I took it yesterday at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum's superb Raptor Free Flight program. It's a must see for any serious wildlife photographer, the birds are allowed to fly free without restraints and only the promise of food lures them back.

Captive or not a beautiful shot of a beautiful bird! I guess it's nice to know if it's wild in terms of relating to its habitat and behaviour but that's not always too critical, is it. I was musing over such things when I found the hummers were at the touch-me-nots by the pond as opposed to the ones I see by our home flowers. Does it really matter? Of course a flower is more appealing than a feeder, but what about the quality of the subject. Any comment, anyone, for a relative newcomer to consider.